Construction spending up 0.8% in November | Aggregate, Excavation, Dump Truck Company

Photo courtesy of PennDOT.

U.S. construction spending rose during November on gains from both the residential and nonresidential markets.

Total spending rose 0.8 percent from October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.256 trillion. The total represents a 2.4-percent improvement over the November 2016 rate.

Residential spending by private homebuilders rose 1 percent during November to a rate of $531 billion and is 7.9 percent above the November 2016 rate. Spending on single-family homes rose 1.9 percent to $274 billion, while multi-family spending fell 1.3 percent to $60 billion. Single-family spending is up 8.9 percent over its year-ago rate, while multi-family is down 1.7 percent.

Total nonresidential spending rose 0.6 percent during November to a rate of $719 billion, but remains down 1.3 percent from the 2016 rate for the same month.

Top nonresidential increases for November were commercial, up 4.6 percent to a rate of $70 billion; educational and religious, both of which rose 3.2 percent to $99.5 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively; and sewage and waste disposal, up 1.6 percent to $20.8 billion. Top decreases for the month were conservation and development, down 9.4 percent to $7.3 billion; water supply, down 2.8 percent to $11.3 billion; and public safety, down 2.7 percent to $8.5 billion.

Construction spending from the private sector rose 1 percent during November to a rate of $531 billion. Government spending rose 0.2 percent to $293 billion.